Four Cheese & Béchamel Lasagna, Italian Comfort Food

Take the time to prepare this lasagna, layered with creamy béchamel sauce, four kinds of cheese and a flavorful tomato sauce. Classic Italian comfort food at its best, this light and luscious recipe will become a favorite with your friends and family.

Four Cheese Lasagna With Meatballs And Sausage

Popular around the world, lasagne is great anytime of the year and can feed a crowd. It is relatively easy to assemble and bake a lasagna with just a few store bought ingredients. However, if you want to serve something really outstanding when you are entertaining then take the time to prepare my four cheese lasagna recipe. I think you will discover that my lasagna is worth the extra work when you start receiving compliments from all your dinner guests.

One of my friends who had my lasagna last year called me recently saying “you don’t have your cheese lasagna recipe on your blog, just one for lamb lasagna“. She was having friends for dinner and wanted to make my recipe. I told her how to prepare it. Now her dinner guests want the recipe and she asked if I could share my recipe here on the blog. I’m happy to oblige Barbara and thank you for being a fan of my recipes.

Four Cheese & Béchamel Lasagna Hot Out Of The Oven

I believe what makes the lasagna special is mascarpone cheese and béchamel sauce giving the lasagna a light, creamy texture. I also believe that using a good homemade tomato or “Sunday sauce” is very important. I like to add meatballs and sausages to my tomato sauce while it cooks for a complex, flavorful sauce but that is entirely up to you, a good marinara sauce will do.

Four Cheese & Béchamel Lasagna (Quattro Formaggi Lasagna)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Recipe serves 12

• 8 oz. box of oven ready lasagna (I used Barilla)
• 1 c. freshly shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 16 oz. ricotta cheese (2 cups)
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 c. grated Locatelli Romano or Parmesan cheese
• a pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten
• 6 c. more or less, homemade Sunday Gravy” or your favorite tomato sauce (more if you want additional to serve on the side)
• Béchamel sauce, recipe below
• basil leaves for garnish, optional

Prepare the Béchamel 

• 2 1/4 c. milk
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour (I used Wondra)
• 4 Tbsp. grated Pecorino-Romano or Parmesan cheese
• a pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a sauce pan on medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until smooth. Slowly add the milk, continuing to whisk until thickened. Add the seasonings and cheese and whisk until cheese melts.. If the sauce gets too thick, add a little milk.

Prepare the cheese mixture 

Combine a 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone, and locatelli cheese in a bowl. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Add the beaten egg and mix well.

Assemble the lasagna

Start with a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 x 3 inch pan then place 3 pieces of pasta on top. Dollop on a 1/3 of the cheese mixture, top with tomato sauce then drizzle on some of the béchamel. Continue this layering process two more times then end with layer of pasta. Spread the last of the tomato sauce and drizzle with the remaining béchamel sauce. Finish with the remaining 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake until the top is golden about 10 more minutes. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting so the lasagna firms up.

To make life easy, you can prepare all of the components of the lasagna ahead of time and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble your lasagna. Once assembled, you can cover and refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake.

If you are freezing the lasagne, use parchment paper between the lasagna and aluminum foil as the foil can react with tomatoes.

You can add well drained, chopped spinach or any other green to the cheese mixture if you wish.  

notes from the kitchen

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When entertaining friends. I like to serve crowd pleasing comfort food and this lasagna is a standout. Start with an antipasto then serve the lasagna along with meatballs, sausage or other meats that simmered in the tomato sauce., crusty bread and a bottle of your favorite Italian red wine..